Armyworms in bermuda grass

[Michael Wise]

Man, I thought I had these things whipped!

Just renovated the lawn and put down almost 25,000 sq. ft. of Tifway Bermuda.

The problem obviously originated in pallets 11-20 and headed north. Not blaming the farm here, I know this is just one of those things. They weren't visible until about 3-4 days after delivery. Origination doesn't matter. They were here and they left a wake of thinner brown grass behind them.

Sprayed with Bug-B-Gone Max and had great results. It pretty much wiped them out.

Got another 10 pallets after I had sprayed and didn't think about it having more worms. Found out yesterday that it did and sprayed tonight. I expect to see more dead worms in the morning.

For future reference, is there any better of an insecticide to use for next time?

From research, this one seemed to be the most forgiving to my frogs around the yard. Stupid, maybe, but I like them and they eat bugs. There just wasn't enough of them to even think about denting the armyworm population.

And is there any risk of damaging grass with the insecticide? I really didn't want to put anything on the new sod, probably just my ignorance of grass there, but the worms were obviously damaging the grass, and were showing no signs of slowing down. There were several generations popping up.

Thanks for help with the questions and for letting me vent about the evil little bastards.

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[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Since they are a caterpillar, you can use any product with bacillus thurengienses. BT is a caterpillar disease that causes them to stop feeding immediately. It is harmless to anything but caterpillars.

Here is a picture of my tomato plant with a tomato horn worm.


You can see at the end of the stem where it had been feeding. The next day the caterpillars had moved to other locations but were not feeding. The next day they were shrinking in size. On the 4th day they were all gone.

The picture was taken about 5 minutes after spraying. When I sprayed the worms all stood up at attention like that. I waited for about 5 minutes before realizing they were frozen in that position. Got my camera and took the pic.

[Michael Wise]

Thanks!

That's what I was lookin' for. Something specific for those evil little worms.

Where do you get BT? I will Google in the mean time.

Much appreciated!

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[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Any garden center should have it. It would be in the organic section, so maybe Wal-Mart does not have it. Here are two to show you what they look like.
A little bit of this goes a long way. The Green Light bottle is a quart. The Safer bottle is 8 ounces. If you are spraying the lawn, get the quart and a hose end sprayer. If you are spraying veggies, the small one is a lifetime supply. I think I used a teaspoon in a pint of water and sprayed about 2 ounces out of the pint. Spray in the afternoon or on cloudy days. BT doesn't do well in the sunlight.

Also I store mine in the house rather than in the hot garage. I don't know how long the little critters will live in the bottle.

[Michael Wise]

Spray in the afternoon or on cloudy days. BT doesn't do well in the sunlight.

Since armyworms are more active in the evening, would spraying then be OK, too?

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[Dchall_San_Antonio]

That would be perfect.

[texasweed]

Good call David, BT is the best solution and extremely effective.

[Michael Wise]

Wave, after wave, after wave of these things are trying their best to destroy my new sod.

BT worm killer did the trick on the last platoon.

When mowing earlier, I saw the grass undulating all around me. Look closer to see TONS of new, young armyworms wriggling all over the lawn.

Do the dead worms count as organic matter? LOL!!!

My BT offensive will begin tomorrow evening. They don't even know it is coming.

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[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Dead worms absolutely count in your organic regimen.

[Michael Wise]

Went ahead and sprayed the suckers this afternoon.

I'll probably have to spray again due to the heat of the day minimizing the BT's lifespan, but for some reason these things are very actively feeding right now.

In the heavily infested area's, there are probably 25-35 worms every square feet. That is what is VISIBLE. No tellin' how many there are once the heat of the day is gone and the others come up to feed.

I put out an entire bottle of BT Worm Killer on about 10,000 sq. ft.

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[bigben]

Howdy Michael,

Any update on the worm wars? Hope it did the trick.

Ben

[Michael Wise]

Sorry I didn't update. Hate reading a thread and then the OP bails!

Yes, it did the trick. I still see some larger adult worms, but in numbers that don't even make me blink.

I think that is another key part to BT. Catch them when they are young.

I'm sure I'll get use to it after a few more battles, but the lack of shock and awe will make a newbie such as myself nervous.

Spray a chemical insecticide and there is instant gratification in watching the things fall to the ground.

With BT, they look healthy for a few days, and the next they are nowhere to be found. Part the grass and there the little dead bodies lie. You just have to be patient and let the BT do it's thing.

I love knowing that my frogs and lizards are safe to eat the worms and keep other bug populations in check. A couple days after the BT application, a HUGE migration of robins came through and filled up on what they could find. I happily watched then through the window knowing that they were lending me a little hand, and the bounty they found in my yard wasn't going to harm them.

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[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Thanks Michael. When I sprayed the BT on my tomato hornworms, they were very mature. I was very gratified to see them all stop feeding immediately. But they do look alive for a couple days.

With the numbers you had, the robins must have been very gratified, too.